new excitements, new position, new determination.

York Equestrian Team had practice for the Middle and Upper School teams last night (Monday night). We had so much fun, and I rode Eddison who I am very familiar with! We had a great practice, and Stephanie and Kate finally told me that my Hunter Jumper position was great! I was so glad to here this news! However, I have to say that sense we practice this type of riding so much, and sense I have to work at it, my eventing or dressage position has gone down the drain on Lyra! Other horses I can still go back and forth, but for some reason when I have young horses that are in training I always revert back to my hunter position. We have another horse show this weekend at Springtide in MA, and I really hope I do better sense my position has gotten better, and my determination has only gotten more intense! I just really hope that come summer, I can kick those bad habits and compete in my world looking like an event rider and not like a hunter! Here are some pictures of the difference... (on right is my nice event position on the flat, and on left is what I have to do for the HJumpers haha) tata!

Score at Maryland Saddlery Consignment!

One of the many great advantages of being in Maryland for thanksgiving break, is that Hunt Vally is not far away, and with the surrounding towns being horsey, there are many wonderful tack shops. For years I have been doing all of my horsey shopping at the Hunt Vally Dover Saddlery, and Maryland Saddlery Consignment where they have everything from jumping vests to stirrups!

This trip however was different, because now that I am not strictly a Dressage rider, I can buy beautiful Grey Plaid show jackets for our Stadium phase, which makes me very happy. So, this morning that is what I set out to do! When I got the the tack shop I headed straight for the coats. After much searching, I found the perfect jacket for $35 dollars, that fit me like a glove! I was also able to get my hands on a very nice pair of Ariat Riding pants that had little ware and tare! They fit so well... and for only $30, I could not say no. Another purchase crossed off my list! And I also got to do some horsey christmas shopping! YAY! 

I got fat and now I miss LYRA!

Woahhh thanksgiving was amazing, but I really ate far too much food! Seeing family for a week in baltimore was very fun, but I am totally ready to come back to Maine and see my very missed poney Lyra (: We are moving to a new barn soon that has an indoor! There I will be training with Gretchen and Katrina to try and prepare for Lyra and I's 2012 eventing season that will be in MA! I am excited for this new chapter, but change makes me crazy so we shall see how this goes! Chao for now! I have to eat more pie (:

Volo Horse Show, and MeCTA Awards!

WOW! What a fun weekend! Isabel, Brit, my mom and I left for Jessica Halliday's Barn in Grafton MA on Saturday morning so that I could meet Jessica, and see the barn that I might be living at for the whole summer! It was way too much fun. I saw my favorite friends Zoe and Emily at the barn, and I rode a great OTTB that is going training level eventing.
After such a fun night, and afternoon, we woke up early for the Volo team IEA horse show at volo equestrian center. We had a great show. I got forth for the jumping, which was awesome, and sixth out of 9 people for flat which is pretty good because I stink at Hunter Jumpers so far HAHA!
Then when we got home I learned that our MeCTA team won second for the Team challenge and thats just so awesome! I am very proud of Jessie, Ashley, Grace and I for a great season and a wonderful team! (: GOOD JOB GUYS! <3

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures! (:

Last night, I had a moment of spending. I ordered Copper and I's Photo proofs from the two Competitions that we did this summer! We did Snowfields HTs and Fox-croft HTs where Bobbie Jo Greiner was taking wonderful pictures! All summer I have had 5 in mind that I wanted to get, and I bought them last night. They are all on facebook, and one of them is my profile picture! Bobbie gave me an extra picture because of her Halliday sale, so in my one-picture-with-six-pictures-in-it, there are six pictures!  This post is just to share them with ya, because I am really excited, so enjoy! BTW in the bottom two that are the red and white fences are copper and I at Fox-croft going Elementary because it was his first event this year! We did Snowfields at BN! (:

She is HOME and we are reunited (:

Lyra is home now and I am so happy for her to be back with me! On saturday morning, Isabel, my mom and I went to pick Lyra up from her three weeks of treatment! She was happy too see us, and loaded right on the trailer! Good girl (: When we got her home she was surprised, but as soon as we got her into her deeply bedded stall, she rolled, and snuggled right into her favorite stall. 

The next morning, Isabel and I went out to the barn to ride. We did our barn work, and then we tacked up the horses (Lyra and Snickers). We walked the down to the arena, and Lyra and I did a "walk trot" ride because she was SO excited to be riding again! She was very wild, but I have to remember that she is a 6 year old chestnut OTTB who has not been ridden in 3 weeks... I am going to ride her on Monday, and I hope that maybe she is a little bit more calm! Above is a picture if her from Sunday! (: (:

Opportunity Knocks...

As you may know, or don't know, the first part of Eventing is the Dressage phase, which is very important because that is your first score, so you can only do worse from there. I have my self competed Dressage only one in my life for 6 years, and it is still a very important part of my riding life! So, as you could guess I was very happy to here  from my mom that a woman in my area by the name of Sue Draper, who lives close by, and who is a Grand Prix Dressage rider, has invited me over to her small farm to ride one of her nice Grand Prix horses that she has trained and is trying to sell! I am so excited because truth be told, I have ridden MANY horses, but never anything that nice, well trained, and expensive. This is such a great opportunity for me to show a great rider what I can do, and also get to ride such a nice horse, with a fabulous rider there to give me some valid pointers! I am going over to ride this horse on Friday, and I will blog all about it that evening, or Saturday night! Here is a Video link to one of my favorite Dressage youtube videos (: When I was this when I was 10... I almost cried it was so COOL! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQgTiqhPbw

Also, lyra is coming home on Saturday, not friday which is kinda sad :( And I have also heard from Jessica Halliday about working for her over the summer, which I will blog about more when I here more! Chao for now! -Ellie

York Team and Friends... (:

WOW what a great weekend! On friday afternoon, Isabel, Addie, my mom, and I drove down to Portland to spend the night so that we could be 15 minutes from our first IEA Horse Show at Greystone Stables! It was a great night, full of fun and new inside jokes! But it was what came on Saturday morning that got me talkin' for the rest of the weekend.
We arrived at the barn at 7:00 sharp so that we, along with the rest of York Team, could watch all the horses warm up for what was going to be a great show! When we were watching the horses, we had to take mental notes of how that horse moved, how they may have to be ridden, and what there likes and dislikes are. There were many horses that we may or may not have gotten to ride that day, and I was so excited to here who I had drawn for our Jumping class. I am an Intermediate jumping the 2' class, because this is my first year on the team, and my first year EVER doing the hunters. At our team practice the Monday before, I had ridden a friends horse Mia, I totally loved her because she was another OTTB and, well, everyone knows that thoroughbred is my name and riding them is my GAME! So pretty much the entire night before the show I had been putting out "positive Mia vibes" because I really wanted to draw her for Jumping. (The left picture is my ribbens from this weekend!)
As it turns out, I got my wish, and Mia and I got to jump together! We had SO MUCH FUN! and Ended up 3ed in our division, and against many other riders! I was so happy because this was my first time, and with a 3ed, I got some points that I will need to qualify for Nationals this year. Next, I drew Xina for our flat class. She is a super nice mare who was from our barn (greystone stables) but I had never ridden her before. She was great, and we had a super ride, however my sturrips were too long, and it through off my position enough so that Xian and I ended up 4th our of the many riders in my class.
Over all it was SUCH a fun day, and our whole team did SO well, including Addie and Isabel! (^^Above to the right is a picture of Mia and her owner Abby, isn't Mia pretty?)

CONGRATULATIONS YORK TEAM! that was fun (:

No-Time-November

The first three days of November have been great! Nothing to complain about except the fact that I have NO time to do the most important things in my life right now! I have another IEA Competition this week on Saturday morning starting at 6:00 at Greystone stables. This will our teams only home-hosted-horse-show this year and we have a lot to do to prepare for it. Because I live 2 1/2 hours away from Greystone, we have to stay the night with friends in portland before the show the next morning. That is fine, but I am going down with my mom, Brit (Isabel's mom) and Isabel. Because they are coming with us, I will not be able to visit Lyra tomorrow afternoon as I had hoped. Everyone needs to remember that we are nearing week 2 of her Lyme treatment, and she will be home in a week from Saturday! I am SO EXCITED FOR HER TO COME HOME because I miss her more then anything. Below is a picture of Greystone Stables (: ------------------------------------->

On a happier note, Thanksgiving is coming soon, which means that I go to MD to be with My grandparents. That also means I miss Cornerstone IEA show, and a week without Lyra :( (her picture at left) My life is just a little bit more then ups and downs these past few months. I really hope that come December, my life will be back in order, and more simple. I hope Lyra and I can ride everyday this winter despite the weather and snow and lack of indoor arena! Grr...

Anyways, I cant wait for Lyra to come home, I cant wait for the horse show this weekend, and I am really looking forward to 6 days off school. I still however wish that my beautiful chestnut athlete (Lyra) comes home soon (: